The first game was a pitcher's duel, while the second game was a batters' delight. Regardless of the style of the game, the outcome was all that mattered to the John Carroll baseball team as the Blue Streaks were on the high side of a pair of victories Friday afternoon at Schweickert Field.

Behind Drew Vargo's brilliant start and a clutch hit late by Jason Large, the homestanding Blue Streaks defeated Heidelberg, 5-2, in the opener of an Ohio Athletic Conference twinbill. In the nightcap, JCU plated 19 runs -- the most it was scored against the Berg in the history of the series -- in a 19-5 triumph to complete the doubleheader sweep.

The opener was a strange affair from the standpoint that only one of the first five runs scored by a base hit. 

JCU opened the scoring when Patrick Keohane (who had led the game off with a triple) scored on a double play with no outs and the bases loaded in the first inning. The Blue Streaks increased their lead to 2-0 on a Monroe Donnelly sacrifice fly in the third.

Heidelberg answered with two runs in the fourth. Cory Jacobs hit an infield single to score Evan Long who had tripled when two JCU outfielders collided on a fly ball and had to leave the game. Adam Hershberger later pushed Jacobs across on a sacrifice fly to tie the score at 2-2.

Vargo and Heidelberg starter Anthony Hajdu stayed locked in the deadlocked duel until the sixth inning. After Hajdu led off the sixth inning by walking Dom Mittiga, he was replaced by Conner Pacella, who allowed a single up the middle by Matthew Donnelly and a bunt single by Aaron Zawadzki to load the bases with no out. Mike Raschilla then drew a bases loaded walk to push Mittiga across with what would be the winning run.

Pacella settled down and induced three outs to limit the damage to a single tally.

The score remained 3-2 until the bottom of the eighth. With two on and two out, Large proved to be the unlikely hero. Inserted into the game as a replacement for Keohane, who was injured in the fourth inning collision, Large delivered a two-run single that scored Raschilla and Patrick Scholla.

Steve Virost recorded the final two outs in the top of the ninth for the save as Vargo picked up his second win of the season. Vargo went  8 1/3 innings, allowing nine hits and two runs, striking out a season- and career-high nine while walking one.

The nightcap was a blowout from the beginning, as John Carroll scored five runs with two out in the bottom fot he first and never looked back. All nine starters had at least one base hit, with Large (2-3, 3 runs), Monroe Donnelly (3-4, 3 runs, 1 RBI), Mittiga (4-5, 3 runs, 4 RBI), James Molnar (3-5, 2 Runs, 3 RBI) and John Bondi (2-6, 2 runs) each collecting two or more hits. JCU scored 19 runs on a 19 hits -- both season bests.

Fred Moore improved to 2-4 by going the first five innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, striking out five and walking five. Joseph Franke, Carter Semancik, and Christopher Hanley worked the final four innings and collective allowed one unearned run on two hits.

John Carroll is now 13-16 overall and 6-6 (T-4th) in the OAC, Heidelberg slips to 15-14 overall and 5-7 (T-6th) in league play.